By RICK de YAMPERTENTERTAINMENT WRITER
The trophy case of Marvin Hamlisch is rather crowded: three Oscars, four Grammys, four Emmys, a Tony and even a Pulitzer for "A Chorus Line."
Only one other artist, composer Richard Rodgers, has equaled that five-award sweep. And Rodgers doesn't have a single Golden Globe -- Hamlisch has three.
To borrow a phrase from "A Chorus Line" (the fourth longest-running Broadway show ever), all this makes the 65-year-old Hamlisch one singular sensation.
Hamlisch, who performs Jan. 20 at Peabody Auditorium in Daytona Beach, has earned another, unofficial accolade -- the James Brown Hardest Working Man in Show Biz Award.
The New York City native got busy early. He attended the Juilliard School of Music at age 7. He burst onto the entertainment scene in 1973, when he won three Oscars: one for his adaptation of Scott Joplin's music for the movie "The Sting," and two for the film "The Way We Were," for its score and title song.
Since then Hamlisch has composed more than 40 film scores, including those for "Sophie's Choice," "Three Men and a Baby," "Ordinary People," "Bananas" and all of Barbra Streisand's movies. His latest film work, for "The Informant!" (starring Matt Damon and directed by Steven Soderbergh), is a genre-hopping feast that is nominated for Best Original Score -- Motion Picture at the Jan. 17 Golden Globe Awards.
When Hamlisch isn't performing or composing, he works as the principal pops conductor for six -- six! -- orchestras: the National Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Seattle Symphony and the San Diego Symphony.
For his Peabody concert, Hamlisch will be accompanied by his longtime vocalist, Stephen Lehew, and an orchestra composed of more than 20 Stetson University and Volusia County school students.
The program will feature music from "The Way We Were," "A Chorus Line" and other Hamlisch works, as well as the songs of Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers and others.
During a phone interview as he traveled by commuter train in the New York area, Hamlisch spoke about dealing with creative stumbling blocks, and whether music can build bridges across cultures.
When you were working on your soundtrack for "The Informant!" you said you were stuck at the outset, that creatively nothing was happening for the first two weeks.
Things were happening, but the problem was things that were obvious were happening. Unfortunately, they didn't seem to fit the bill.
The project is funny. The director wants to make sure that the music says it's funny. Had it been scored, so to speak, normally, it would not have been that funny. Every time I would start something, I would go, "Nah, this doesn't make me laugh. That doesn't make me laugh."
Finally I took to heart that the main character is bipolar. That clicked into me instantly. If he's bipolar, he's seeing the world totally different than the rest of us are seeing it. That's what I decided to "musicalize." So the music becomes like another character that the audience doesn't see, but it's what's going on in his head.
You're so prolific -- how often do you become stuck in the creative process?
I never quite figure it as stuck. You've probably read this quote but it is true: They asked Michelangelo, "How do you make an elephant?" And he says, "You take away everything that's not an elephant, you're left with an elephant."
In the same way, it's not that I'm stuck. It's that the ideas I come up with really aren't right. By getting rid of those ideas, slowly but surely you come to what the right one is.
Sounds like you've never pressed that panic button and said, "Oh my God, what am I gonna do?"
I've learned that in order to stay away from total panic, you have to do the following: Let's say it's day five of the process and nothing's happening. You have two choices. One choice is to stay at the piano another six hours and bang something out. Or, actually get up, go get a hamburger, go see a movie, relax, just stay cool, knowing that it will be there tomorrow.
That's the way I go at it. I have to have confidence that one of these days it's going to happen. So you get away from it a little bit to know what you're going to do.
Several years ago I interviewed Palestinian musician Simon Shaheen, and I asked him a version of the same question I've asked a lot of musicians: "Do you ever dream your music can help bridges between cultures?" In his case, it was "Can music heal some of the animosities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?" Shaheen said, "To say that music can heal -- I have reservations about this. Music is powerful, but it has its own moment." In your current bio you state: "Music can make a difference. There is a global nature to music, which has the potential to bring all people together. Music is truly an international language." Have you ever wavered in that belief?
I would say the difference between what he's saying and what I'm saying is not that far. Music may not be able to take with it an entire government or an entire way of life or whatever. But it can certainly change the lives of one or two or three people who may have been enemies to start.
There's a wonderful organization called Seeds of Peace. They bring to camp every year members of the families of Middle East people -- Palestinians, Jews. And the truth is they start off not being able to stand each other, but by the end of the camp they've actually made friends.
I believe that, on that kind of personal basis, music can really help. For instance, (conductor) Daniel Barenboim with the Chicago Symphony, where they have Israelis sitting next to Palestinians.
Do I think two governments can be brought to a concert and they say, "Wow, let's all be friends"? No, that's not going to happen. But particularly with younger people -- people where it's not rooted in them for years and years and years -- it can make a difference.
What are some of your current or future projects? More film?
We are nominated for a Golden Globe. I'll find out on the 17th. So, when I get to Daytona, either a winner's showing up, or a loser.
And I'm working on a Broadway show, but that's like a year in the making, so we have a long time for it. It's based on the Jerry Lewis film "The Nutty Professor." I'm writing the music. Rupert Holmes is writing the lyrics."
If You Go
WHO: Marvin Hamlisch
WHEN: 7 p.m. Jan 20
WHERE: Peabody Auditorium, 600 Auditorium Blvd., Daytona Beach
TICKETS: $40-$75 plus service fee; Volusia and Flagler county teachers and faculty with ID, $5 off; students with ID, $16. Tickets available at the auditorium box office and Ticketmaster.
INFORMATION: 386-671-3462
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